I am thinking of publishing via YWO. I would be interested in people's experiences. Quality, pricing, pit falls and most importantly sales?

To know the quality, I bought a couple of YWO titles. The books look and 'feel' good; but it is best to hold some in your hands. For pricing, I looked at the market and settled on £7.99 for 226 pages; that seems average. Re sales, I found they are all down to the author. You need to keep at it, otherwise they fade away.

That's good to hear. I got the impression they would be okay but I had a poor experience with another self publishing site and I wanted to check.

By the way what do you think about pen names?

Pen names? Unless one has an unfortunate name (Nora Bone for example) I don't see the need for them. But perhaps authors of chicklit might feel the need for a sexy cover name . . . I've not given it much thought.

Incidentally: the YWO print on demand service brought in copies of my own novel at about £4.47 to me (based on an order of 100). Local shops take them in and pay me £6.50 on a resale price of £7.99.Sales via Amazon yield a royalty of about £1.24.I won't be changing the car just yet.

Dawn French, of TV comedy fame, has sold 250,000 of her debut novel - so she has a thousand times more readers than I have accrued in a similar 7 months. But my own media exposure amounted to a mere 5 mins breathless interview on the early shift of Radio Tees.

I've found the YWO publishing experience excellent - in fact, I can't fault it. I simply took Ted's advice on pricing, which I think is entirely dependent on the length of the book. I also had a bad experience with a different self-publishing company, so I'd say go with YWO - I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.

And if you don't have a cover design yet, Joe90's daughter Esther does a great job - she did the cover designs for my "Gnome or Mr Nce Guy" and "The Mice of St Goran."

That's good to hear. I got the impression they would be okay but I had a poor experience with another self publishing site and I wanted to check.

By the way what do you think about pen names?

Pen names? Unless one has an unfortunate name (Nora Bone for example) I don't see the need for them. But perhaps authors of chicklit might feel the need for a sexy cover name . . . I've not given it much thought.

Incidentally: the YWO print on demand service brought in copies of my own novel at about £4.47 to me (based on an order of 100). Local shops take them in and pay me £6.50 on a resale price of £7.99.Sales via Amazon yield a royalty of about £1.24.I won't be changing the car just yet.

Dawn French, of TV comedy fame, has sold 250,000 of her debut novel - so she has a thousand times more readers than I have accrued in a similar 7 months. But my own media exposure amounted to a mere 5 mins breathless interview on the early shift of Radio Tees.

Just picking up on a point you made. It does concen me that to get the cost price down to 4.47 you need to print a 100 copies which, for me, represents a large initial outlay. It this typical of most writers publishing with YWO?Presumably then, as the price of the book is printed on the cover, should you elect a smaller print run at high cost you could theoretically be out of pocket when you sell one?

You wrote: 'Just picking up on a point you made. It does concen me that to get the cost price down to 4.47 you need to print a 100 copies which, for me, represents a large initial outlay. It this typical of most writers publishing with YWO?Presumably then, as the price of the book is printed on the cover, should you elect a smaller print run at high cost you could theoretically be out of pocket when you sell one?

My reply:

YWO will give you a quote for the number of copies you need. Of course, you don't need to order any. You can just leave it all to Amazon etc. The price is not indicated on my book cover, but is listed on the outlets at £7.99. My author's discounted price was £4.96 with it reducing per the number ordered. So you would have a margin of circa £3 to play with. If you price at a pound higher, your margin would be £4 and so on.

I was very pleased indeed with the quality of our YWO-published anthology and the service was quick and without mishap. That was partly due to the fact that I am a graphic designer and was able to provide exactly what was needed in terms of the cover spec (apparently a rarity) and our document was edited and checked by three people several times over before it was sent.

I would advise that you a) employ an editor to make sure your content is up to scratch and b) employ an experienced designer (not a student or your brother) to realise your idea for a cover unless you are in the business - see: Don't Spoil the Ship for a Ha'p'orth of Tar and this: View from the Other Side. Any money you spend should come back by way of increased sales.

One other thing - keep the cost as low as you can. You will be advised on the number of pages and I'd say go lower than that if you can. You're self-publishing - no one has endorsed your product. That's just my opinion!

You wrote: 'Just picking up on a point you made. It does concern me that to get the cost price down to 4.47 you need to print a 100 copies which, for me, represents a large initial outlay. Is this typical of most writers publishing with YWO?Presumably then, as the price of the book is printed on the cover, should you elect a smaller print run at high cost you could theoretically be out of pocket when you sell one?

My reply:

YWO will give you a quote for the number of copies you need. Of course, you don't need to order any. You can just leave it all to Amazon etc. The price is not indicated on my book cover, but is listed on the outlets at £7.99. My author's discounted price was £4.96 with it reducing per the number ordered. So you would have a margin of circa £3 to play with. If you price at a pound higher, your margin would be £4 and so on.

I think I'm being a bit thick here. 'Quote for the no. of copies but you don't need to order any' ??? 'Leave it all to Amazon' ??? Sorry, can you go through that once more.